• Heavy rain forced a Monday conclusion.
• Pieters and Thorbjornsen tied for first place after rounds of 67 and 64, respectively.
• On a day of easy scoring, he only had one birdie and one bogey.

Richard Bland of England shared the lead at the Dubai Desert Classic with Rory McIlroy, who left the course after a shaky round.

Heavy rain forced a Monday conclusion, and Bland, who lost in a play-off last year, added a second consecutive five-under 67 to tie for first place with Thomas Pieters of Belgium (67) and Michael Thorbjornsen of America, an amateur (64).

On a day when the sun was finally shining, Marcus Kinhult of Sweden (65), Connor Syme of Scotland (67), and Adri Arnaus of Spain (68) were tied for fourth place at nine under par.

However, the 60 or so millimetres of rain that fell over the previous several days had softened the terrain, and the favoured lying regulations were still in effect, which contributed to the poor scores.

McIlroy, the world’s top player, was not overly happy with his round of two-under-par 70.

He improved to eight under par and climbed into a tie for seventh place, but he immediately went to the driving range to fix a misfiring driver.

An eagle on the 13th hole, where he sank a putt from 34 feet, boosted the round. On a day of easy scoring, he only had one birdie and one bogey.

“Just a tad rusty. Yeah, I need to get some stuff done “He stated.

“I think it’s important to have a short game to sort of bail you out when you’re not feeling on your game, and I think that’s why I’m still not too far out from the lead.”

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